Chapter 39 Humans Can't Escape the Law of True Fragrance
Lu Xiao was running away with a fat man on his shoulders, and the Templar following behind was also affected by the heavy armor on his body. The two sides chased and escaped at about the same speed.
However, Florence is the territory of the Medici family after all. Panting and carrying Rodrigo through several alleys, Lu Xiao finally entered a relatively empty church square.
The city guards here have cleared out the nearby Templars and are calming and evacuating the panicked civilians.
Lu Xiao, who had planned his escape route in advance, shouted at the top of his lungs: "Guard! I was ordered by the lord's advisor Giovanni Auditore to help me stop the Templars who were pursuing me!"
Although the city guards were temporarily unable to confirm whether Lu Xiao's identity was true, the group of elite Templars following behind did arouse their thoughts.
The leader of the guard captain was stained with a lot of enemy blood. He waved his saber and pointed at the pursuing Templars: "Stop them! Florence is not a place for the Holy See to run wild, for the sake of the Medici!"
Hearing the sounds of Italian swearing and weapons clashing behind him, Lu Xiao's tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
Just at this time, Federico hurriedly arrived with several assassins. The eldest son of the Auditore family did not forget to joke humorously in the crisis.
"Wow~ You look like you're working hard. Fortunately, my father gave you this task. I'd rather elope with a beautiful woman on my back."
Lu Xiao rolled his eyes angrily: "Stop making sarcastic comments and come help me bring this guy back to the headquarters. I should be able to pry a lot of information out of him this time."
…
The rebellion between the Templars and the Pazzi family lasted for a long time, and the entire city of Florence fell into chaos. The fighting between soldiers from both sides gradually stopped until late that night.
After controlling the situation, the Assassin Brotherhood retreated into the streets under Giovanni's orders and gave the next opportunity to perform to Lord Lorenzo.
The Templars' plan to assassinate the Medici family ended in disastrous failure, and even Grand Master Rodrigo Borgia, who personally presided over the plan, was captured by the Assassins.
The Italian Knights Templar branch headquartered in Rome was thrown into panic as a result. Some people advocated immediately selecting a new Grand Master to succeed him and revenge against the assassins as quickly as possible, while others calmly said that they would wait for the follow-up news.
When Rodrigo woke up from the coma, he found that his hands and feet were tied to a chair, and several faceless masked men and women were standing in front of him staring at him.
Rodrigo felt a chill in his heart. Seeing the scene in front of him, he had already guessed where he was.
Forcing himself to calm down, Rodrigo said calmly: "Does it make sense to wear these masks? Giovanni Auditore, you don't think we don't know your true identity, do you?"
One of the masked men chuckled and pulled off his mask, revealing the face of a handsome and elegant middle-aged man.
"Rodrigo Borgia, welcome to the Assassin headquarters in Florence. You never dreamed that your plan would encounter such a tragic failure, right?"
"snort!"
Rodrigo kept his words: "I admit that our actions were a little too hasty. We should have eliminated the Auditore family first according to the original plan."
Giovanni knelt down and looked at Rodrigo. He was not provoked by the other person's words. He smiled calmly and said: "Don't be harsh. Winners and losers. The result is that the Assassins won, the Templars were defeated, and you also fell into our hands."
In hand."
Rodrigo looked at the other people present and leaned back slightly against the back of the chair: "Don't waste your efforts. You don't think that as the Grand Master of the Templars, I can't keep secrets, do you?"
"In the name of my lord, you cannot get any information out of me!"
Although Rodrigo spoke very righteously, Lu Xiao could see Rodrigo's guilty conscience from his twinkling eyes.
La Volpe, wearing a mask, looked at Giovanni: "As expected, let's kill him. Killing a Templar Grand Master will definitely boost the morale of the Brotherhood, and at the same time, we can take this opportunity to attack
Templar Unity."
Like all secret organizations in the world, the Templars are not monolithic. There are neutral and radical factions like Rodrigo, and naturally there are moderate factions who advocate slowing down the conflict with the Assassins.
Once the news of Rodrigo's death comes out, the Knights Templar, whose high-level power is in a vacuum, are likely to continue internal struggles for a long period of time until the next Grand Master is elected.
Lu Xiao, who had been paying attention to Rodrigo, noticed that his pupils shrank slightly. It was obvious that this guy's mentality was affected by Cunning Fox's words.
"Don't worry."
Paula advised: "As the Grand Master of the Templars, Rodrigo is also a cardinal of the Holy See and a future candidate for the Pope. Killing him is likely to make the Holy See and the Brotherhood have a neutral stance.
Completely torn apart."
Although there are a large number of Templars in high positions in the contemporary Catholic Church headquartered in Rome, the Holy See is not entirely under the control of the Templars.
According to the Brotherhood's records, there have been popes who have worked closely with assassins in the past, and this possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.
If Rodrigo, a cardinal of the Holy See, is killed like this, it will inevitably create a gap between the possible future cooperation between the two parties.
The mercenary leader Luciano was a rough man. He scratched his head irritably and turned to look at Giovanni who was deep in thought.
"Giovanni, what do you say? Kill? No kill?"
Lu Xiao took out the repaired hidden sword and put it on Rodrigo's neck. The Spaniard subconsciously raised his head, and the fleshy flesh of his neck was cut with a trace of blood by the sharp hidden sword.
"Your Excellency, Cardinal, are you sure you want to keep your words to the end?"
Lu Xiao's soft and deep voice echoed in Rodrigo's ears like a devil's whisper: "Think about the colorful world outside, think about the power and resources you will have when you become the pope in the future, and give up before your life reaches its peak.
, is this really good?”
"Gudong~"
Rodrigo swallowed nervously, and after much hesitation, he finally gave up and sighed: "What do you want to know?"
"嚓~"
"This is called knowing the current affairs."
Lu Xiao withdrew his hidden sword with satisfaction and gave his position to Giovanni, the leader of the Florence Brotherhood.
…
Once a person's psychological defense line is broken, subsequent persistence will be meaningless.
Rodrigo is not like the previous Grand Masters of the Templars. He does not have extremely firm beliefs. Rather than being a religious leader, he is more like a qualified politician who is thick-skinned and flexible.
In order to save his own life and enjoy a better life in the future, Roderick revealed the important information he knew in detail, including the whereabouts of some Eden artifacts.
"Cyprus?"
"That's right." Giovanni said thoughtfully: "Most of the information on the Pieces of Eden given by Rodrigo is fragmentary, and the most accurate one is a Golden Apple of Eden buried in Cyprus."
"There is no Brotherhood branch in Cyprus, but this isolated island country in the middle of the Eastern Mediterranean is close to Ottoman and Egypt. I will notify the local Brotherhood to send people to explore, and we should get preliminary returns soon."
"Oh, right."
Giovanni suddenly remembered something and said to Lu Xiao: "Rodrigo also mentioned vague information about the Holy Sword of Eden."
"After the Holy Sword was lost during the English Civil War, the Templars obtained some unverified information."
"It is said that the Holy Sword was delivered to the Port of Lille in northern France by a pirate ship of unknown origin, and then disappeared completely."